Single-sided adhesive tape is a well-known article of commerce, and includes masking tape, duct tape and related products. Such tape is widely used to create masks for painting. For example, when a window frame is to be painted, masking tape may be applied to the window pane immediately adjacent the frame, to prevent paint from being inadvertently applied to the pane.
For some painting operations, such as spray painting, it is frequently necessary to protect or mask an area that is wider than the width of conventional masking tape. When such a requirement exists, it is common to position a sheet of paper, cardboard or the like over the area to be protected, and to position strips of masking tape about the edges of the sheet, such that the masking tape borders the area to be painted and secures the sheet. When this technique is used, proper positioning of the sheet and masking tape strips can be a comparatively time-consuming process, particularly if the area to be protected is large.
Two-sided adhesive tape may be used in masking to eliminate many of the limitations of one-sided adhesive tape. Two-sided adhesive tape is tape that includes adhesive on both of its surfaces. When two-sided adhesive tape is used, the tape is first applied adjacent the areas to be painted using one inwardly facing adhesive surface, and a sheet such as paper is then placed over and adhered to the opposite, outwardly facing adhesive surface. However, until recently, two-sided adhesive tape has not achieved widespread use, principally because it generally cannot be formed into a roll without the use of a release liner between adjacent tape layers.
A recent innovation, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,737, provides a two-sided adhesive tape comprising a pair of conventional strips of one-sided tape that are positioned with their adhesive surfaces facing one another and joined along a portion of their widths. This arrangement produces a two-sided adhesive tape having a comparatively thick center section with no adhesive surfaces, and a pair of edge sections adhesively surfaced on opposite sides from one another. This arrangement provides a two-sided adhesive tape that can be used in rolls without the use of release liners.